Page 8 of The Wrong Date Deal

“Which couples?”

“The ‘sickeningly happy, believe that’s out there for everyone else too’ couples.”

“Oh, watch yourself, Fordy. You’re starting to sound bitter. Too young for that.”

“You’re not that much older,” he protested, “and you do that all the time.”

“Yeah, older siblings are just like that.”

“The double standards.”

“Dude. I’m a woman. And an eldest daughter.”

He froze, her words sinking in. “Okay. Fair play. But still, if I have to believe in romance, so do you.”

“Oh, I believe in it. I just believe people use it to break you.”

“Yeah… Good luck to your date.”

“Hey!” She whacked his free arm playfully. “I’m a catch.”

“Sure you are.”

“Do you want to sleep on the floor tonight?”

He laughed brightly. “As if you’d stay up checking that I didn’t move to the couch.”

“Eh. Not wrong. Nobody has time for that.”

Ford paused for a moment before looking seriously at August. “Seriously, though, I’m happy for you. You deserve to be happy.”

August scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Cheers, bro.”

“Ugh. I’m just saying. It’s been a minute and you deserve good things.”

August smiled softly. It had been more than a minute. She’d been off the dating scene for years now—ever since she’d taken her girlfriend to a holiday party at work. She’d been so happy to have gotten a job as an operations manager at a production company and it was her first big event with her new colleagues. She’d thought the night was going great, that she was making connections and having fun. Then, she’d exited the bathroom to find her girlfriend talking in a corner to a couple of her colleagues. The girlfriend had been drunk enough to admit that she wasn’t really into August anymore but was interested in the movie connections she could make through August. After struggling through the rest of the evening without causing a scene, August had quickly called the whole relationship off and stepped back from dating.

At first, she’d thought it would just be a short break, but, as time passed, it became longer and longer, and August had felt more and more like she couldn’t trust anyone not to be usingher for industry connections. It had just been easier to leave that aside while she climbed the professional ladder. Now, she was older, wiser, and professionally fulfilled. And she started thinking it might be nice to share that with someone. So, when Meilíng had told her about the app, and her own position on dating, August had agreed. She still wasn’t certain it was a great idea, but at least she could say she’d tried it.

August nudged Ford. “How nice it would be if you weren’t too busy to date and I could just be grilling you on your love life instead. Isn’t that what older relatives are supposed to do?”

He gave her a wild look. “You’re not quite that old. Calm down.”

“Oh, you don’t want me asking who you’recourting?”

“Ew. Never say that word to me again.”

“What’s wrong with courting? It’s cute.”

“It’s ancient.”

“Eh.”

“You don’tcourtpeople these days, and you know it.” He shook his head. “You have the talking stage.”

August raised her eyebrows. “Oh? Are you in thetalking stagewith anyone?”

“Tell me when I’d have time?”

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